Independent Variable

Definition of Independent Variable

An independent variable is a variable that is manipulated by the experimenter in a scientific study. It is typically one factor that is changed while all other factors are kept constant.

What is an Independent Variable used for?

An independent variable is a type of variable used in statistical models and experiments in order to explain or predict the outcome of the experiment. It is a variable that is not affected by other variables, and its effect on the outcome of an experiment can be measured and observed. Independent variables are typically used as a way to compare different types of data, such as different treatments or interventions, between two or more groups. They help researchers control for external factors that could otherwise confound their results. In machine learning, independent variables are often referred to as features and are used for predictive modeling tasks like classification or regression. Features are usually selected from a set of observations that have some predictive power with respect to the target variable, which could be anything from predicting customer churn to predicting house prices. By selecting appropriate independent variables, ML models can learn patterns in the data which can then be used to make predictions about unseen data points.